Thursday, February 28, 2008

Should We Question Obama’s Patriotism?

It is pro forma for conservatives, before attacking some detail of a leftist’s views or background, to declare that, “of course, I don’t question (whoever)’s patriotism.” But, in the case of Barack Hussein Obama, we ought to think about dropping the disclaimer.

The conduct and background of Barack Hussein Obama, over a period of years, raise alarming doubts as to the nature of the man and his loyalty to the United States and, more broadly, to Western Civilization. His thin paper trail suggests that he is either a real-life incarnation of Chauncey Gardener – or that he is someone with an agenda playing a very long game. Some of his associations and actions suggest the latter – with all of the danger that implies.

It’s not merely Obama’s refusal to wear an American flag pin. Nor is it his wife’s ridiculous comments that the success of her husband’s campaign allowed her to be proud of America for the first time in her life. The questions which quietly swirl around Obama run deeper – and are far more disturbing – than a few ostentatiously post-nationalist gestures from two confirmed members of the New Class.

These are the fundamental questions of the day:

Who is Barack Hussein Obama?

How was Barack Hussein Obama raised?

What does Barack Hussein Obama believe today?

Barack Hussein Obama was born in 1961. His mother was white and his father was black. That’s about as far as you’ll get in most biographical sketches. But that omits some critical details. In particular, his father was a Kenyan. To some degree or another, he was a Moslem. His family today is Islamic. Given the short time that Obama Sr. was involved in the life of Obama Jr., it’s fair to say that his religion is probably immaterial to any discussion of how Obama was raised. What is more significant is that he was connected to the Kenyan Mau-Mau terrorist group. A group which, I might add, also had notable communist ties. Obama’s mother becoming involved with a man connected to a foreign, communist-inspired terrorist group is very suggestive, especially when we step back further.

Obama’s grandparents, even in the 1950’s, attended what the church’s current pastor describes as, “the little red church on the hill.” One of his mother’s high school friends, speaking today, describes her as a, “fellow traveller” – a phrase pregnant with meaning.

A recent column by Cliff Kincaid revealed another alarming connection. The “Frank” who Obama repeatedly refers to as a mentor in his first biography was, in fact, Frank Marshall Davis – a member of the Communist Party. When you add to this Obama’s own admission of having attended “socialist conferences” a disturbing picture begins to emerge.

Connect the dots. A woman raised as a Red Diaper baby has a child with a member of a communist-related group. She raises a son who is mentored by communists and attends “socialist conferences.” What sort of individual is that background likely to produce?

Remember, all of this occurred in the contest of the Great War between communism and the West. Communism isn’t merely a matter of political disagreement; it’s a matter of loyalty.

But, it gets worse.

After his father left, Obama’s mother married another Moslem. Again, this is a suggestive fact. Obviously, we can’t choose who we fall in love with – but Obama’s mother appears to have had, especially for the day, rather exotic taste. It makes one wonder what circles she was running with.

Obama says that he’s no longer a Moslem. Fine. I can accept that. But what of his background? Being raised as a Moslem – and having attended an Islamic school – would seem to make him more likely to be sympathetic towards our enemies in the present war. And, given the impossibility of auditing the contents of the human heart, it opens up all sorts of other, even more disturbing, prospects.

Everything which I’ve just stated would be academic – a matter for curiosity – if Obama’s conduct as a man was beyond reproach. We don’t get to choose who our parents are or what they believe. We don’t get to choose what religions we are inducted or not inducted into as children. We don’t get to choose where we are born. These are all matters in which the individual is blameless. We don’t live in a society which subscribes to the idea that he sins of the fathers must be visited upon the sons.

I do not care – nor should any other person – about the nature of Obama’s ancestors, except to the degree that they have plainly shaped the man that we must contend with today. If Obama rejected his ideological heritage – if he were so firmly and absolutely indentified in the public mind as a fervent patriot – there would be no questions to be asked. But that is not the case.

Some people berate me for calling leftists “traitors” on a regular basis. I say: if the shoe fits…

After all, can it really be simply a coincidence that, in every major war over a span of decades, the majority of the left has been on the side of our enemies? Can we truly call those who, as Barack Obama does, claim that opposing a nation’s war effort and supporting the victory of its enemies a form of patriotism patriotic?

If Barack Hussein Obama, the man, rejected his background – if he denounced those who tried to murder Americans and those who backed them, if he fanatically opposed our enemies, if he worked to defend the West at every turn, then there would be no reason to examine what he was taught as a child. But, since he does not, we have cause for concern. We are now faced with the very real prospect of a President whose worldview has been shaped by some kind of bizarre Islamo-Communist perspective so bizarre and parodic that, under ordinary circumstances, Michael Savage would reject it as extreme.